Condon murder case pushed to April Condon murder case pushed to April (March 26, 2004)

Judge delays trial after DA introduces new evidence

By Grace Rauh

A preliminary hearing date in the Doris Condon murder will be decided on April 30. The hearing was postponed after a prosecutor introduced new evidence in the case.

Condon's death sent shockwaves through the city last fall when the 77-year-oldwas allegedly beaten in her Jardin Avenue home on Oct. 25 and died weeks later from the injuries. Her death launched Mountain View's first murder case in almost two years.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 12, but Judge Diane Northway postponed choosing a date until next month. Deputy District Attorney Dan Fehderau said he presented new lab and police reports and copies of Condon's medical records to the court. He thinks the introduction of new evidence may be one reason the judge wanted more time before the hearing begins.

"It takes a lot of time to go through all this material," he said. According to prosecutors, San Jose residents Leonel Cantor, also known as Enrique Chavez, and David Olayo entered Condon's home and beat her severely. A third man, Jose Sosa, is charged with being an accessory to the murder for driving Chavez and Olayo from Condon's home. The defendants have not entered pleas. Edward Nino, Jr., Deputy Public Defender for Cantor, said the defense is transcribing witness tapes from Spanish to English. Several witnesses are Spanish-speaking, he said. "Right now we are just in the process of gathering all the information."

At the preliminary hearing, Fehderau will present evidence to convince the judge that the defendants and the case should go to trial, he said.

The case is scheduled to continue on April 30 at 1:30 p.m. at the Palo Alto Courthouse.

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

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